Most people are nuts about nuts!
Why shouldn’t they be? Nuts are delicious, crunchy, quick to munch on, and most importantly healthy!
Undoubtedly cashew nuts, peanuts, almonds, etc. are among the most popular and common nuts to munch on for people.
So many people are crazy after peanut butter, cashew butter, almond butter, and other various forms of exotic butter that originate from nuts.
As we said, we are nuts about nuts, and in this post, we will extensively cover different kinds of nuts you can munch on and some noteworthy facts about them.
Let’s get started.
Cashew nuts
Nowhere on this planet would you find a cashew-nut hater.
Cashew nuts are one of the best tasting nuts to eat. These nuts are typically grown in both dry and wet tropical lands. Some of the largest producers of cashew nuts are India, Venezuela, Africa, and areas of Southeast Asia.
All the cashew nuts fans can rejoice because there are so many ways to devour these beauties you will get tired of eating them!
For solo eaters, you can eat them frozen, chilled, or salted. They are undoubtedly a favorite add-on on most desserts including cakes, pastries, muffins, brownies, and cupcakes.
They are often used in several Chinese delights like cashew chicken, stir-fried veggies, honey potatoes, etc. You can make a mouthwatering chicken salad and garnish it with these white beauties!
Did we mention how healthy they are? Cashew nuts are packed with antioxidants. They also have a high content of magnesium.
Peanuts
Who doesn’t like peanuts? They are the best wholesale nuts to buy!
Peanuts are amongst the most common nuts in every household. These tasty snacks are primarily grown in warm climatic regions of Asia, South America, Australia, and Africa.
They grow below the ground, under the soil, just like potatoes. To make peanuts edible, they are first harvested and then thoroughly washed to remove all the dirt. Then they are left under the season to dry up and get partly roasted.
As per preferred methods, peanuts can either be shelled at the time of the harvest or they can be shelled later on.
The moment these guys are neatly spelled out, they are ready for munchers to hog on! As per personal preferences, people may furthermore roast peanuts for a crunchier bite or they can boil them for a melt-in-the-mouth kind of feeling. You can eat them as is now. Once they are roasted or boiled, they can also be seasoned as per your taste buds and then consumed.
One of the most popular uses of peanuts is seen in the form of peanut butter. Apart from this lip-smacking goodies, peanuts can also be used in jelly sandwiches and mouth-watering peanut butter cups.
They can either be consumed in their whole form. But if you want a bit more out of them, you got it. Peanuts can be chocolate coated and then slow-baked to deliciousness. They can also be used in granola and trail mixes. Not to mention they are a must-use ingredient in many popular authentic Chinese dishes.
Peanuts are also a great source of healthy fats and you should include it in your daily diet for healthy living.
Hazelnuts
Unlike the above two nuts, hazelnuts are mostly only cultivated in the areas of North America, parts of Asia, and Europe. Because they are a very hardy plant, hazelnuts typically only grow in medium-sized bushy plants and trees.
After these nuts are carefully picked out, it is mandatory to put them to try within the first 24 hours only! This drying process needs to be carried out perfectly. Once this is completed, hazelnuts can be stored for months without worrying about rotting. But if they are specifically shelled for human consumption, their shelf life, though, does not exceed more than a couple of weeks.
Hazelnuts have marked their spot as one of the most nutritious nuts. They are packed with monounsaturated oil. They are also rich in several different vitamins and minerals.
Unlike other nuts, hazelnuts are favored mostly only in desserts. Nutella, the world’s favorite chocolate spread contains sufficient amounts of hazelnuts. Ferrero Rocher is also made using hazelnuts.
Apart from these, hazelnuts can also be used to make chocolate truffles, brownies, and home-made chocolate spreads. People also prefer adding a slight flavor of hazelnuts in coffee. Rarely, hazelnuts can also be used to garnish main courses savory dishes like sausages and juicy meats.
Almonds
The United States of America boasts the majority of the world’s almond production. Almonds are extensively grown in California. Certain areas of Spain and Italy also contribute to the production of almonds.
Almonds are naturally cultivated on trees. This is one of the rarest nuts that can be freshly devoured from the tree, just like a fruit! However, most people choose to consume almonds in the form of a dried nut. Once they are harvested from the trees, almonds are left to dry out for at least a couple of weeks. The process of sun-drying helps to maximize the flavor of this nut. It also helps minimize the mold on the nut.
When these brown beauties are dried, they can be shelled for a long time and are fit for consumption. Just like hazelnuts, almonds also boast monounsaturated fats, various proteins, and vitamins. They can be roasted with a pinch of salt and devoured all alone.
Roasted almonds are definitely the most flavorful and best tasting nuts that you can eat in comparison to other nuts.
Almonds can also come in handy to garnish savory platters of chicken, salads, and of course, the morning breakfast cereal.
Pistachios
Pistachios are exclusively grown in the western regions of the United States including California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Furthermore, they are also substantially grown in the regions of Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, and Italy.
Pistachios require desert-like sand and they grow on small trees. Many choose to eat pistachios in their raw form just after washing them. But most people prefer a different version of pistachios which includes roasting them while seasoning them with a good amount of salt.
Just like other nuts, pistachios are packed with several vitamins. They are especially rich in fiber and are high in protein.
Pistachios might not be amongst the most popular nuts but they are one of the best flavored nuts.
Pistachios can be added to an array of famous food dishes, some of which include baklava, spumoni, pistachio ice cream, and pistachio salad. The winning pistachio dish has to be a pistachio kulfi (a form of ice cream dessert)!
Parting words
With this, we end the list of the world’s most famous nuts. The variety of nuts available for consumption is pretty long and all-encompassing.
But these 5 dried nuts deserve a special mention due to their unbeatable popularity!